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Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The 
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The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


0 


D 


D 


D 
D 


□ 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagie 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pelliculie 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  {i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relii  avec  d'autres  documents 


Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liu/e  serrde  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
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Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouties 
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mais,  lorsque  cela  itait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
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Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplimentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
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de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  pe^t-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  axiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu^s  ci-dessous. 


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Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 


□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pelliculies 

0    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d6color6es,  tacheties  ou  piqu( 


The 
pos 
oft 
film 


OrU 
bag 
the 
sior 
oth( 
first 
sior 
oril 


D 


Pages  d6color6es,  tacheties  ou  piqudes 

Pages  ditach^es 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materit 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 

Only  edition  availab!e/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


I      I  Pages  detached/ 

r^  Showthrough/ 

j      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I      I  Only  edition  availab!e/ 


The 
sha 
TIN 
whi 

Mai 
diff 
enti 
beg 
righ 
reqi 
met 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmies  i  nouveau  de  facon  6 
obtanir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film^  au  taux  de  r6duction  indiqui  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


aox 


y_ 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  hee  been  reproduced  thenke 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Douglas  Library 
Queen's  University 


L'exemplaire  fiimA  fut  reproduit  grAce  d  la 
g4n6rosit*  de: 

Douglas  Library 
Queen's  University 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  leglbiiity 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  Iceeping  with  the 
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Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  4t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soln,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet*  de  l'exemplaire  film*,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplalres  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  ImprlmAe  sont  filmte  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplalres 
originaux  sont  filmte  en  commenpant  par  la 
premlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  '^»- (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  y  (meaning    END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
dornlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  dtre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diff6rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  11  est  film*  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ntcesssire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mtthode. 


1  2  3 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Ramsey  County  Pioneer  As^ocite 


JMC^-y     ill3laL,    1888. 


.:■ .;  ( 


BY 


CHARLES    E.    E 


Twenty-Eighth  Anniversary  of  the  Adnjleaipn 
of  the  State  of  Minh^Bota  into  the  ^#^»^  . 


ST.  OP^VL:- 

H.   M.  SMYTH  PKINTING  OO. 

1886. 


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KINGSTON.  ONTARIO 


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X-  .i-iSilai 


Gentlemen  of  the  Pioneer  Association: 

1  am  afraid  that  in  choosing  me  for  your  orator  on 
this  interesting  anniversary,  you  have  made  the  mis- 
take of  trying  to  get  wine  out  of  an  empty  vessel.  I 
have  delivered  so  many  addresses  to  associations  of  old 
settlers  that  I  find  myself  pumped  pretty  dry,  and  fear 
I  shall  be  compelled  to  commit  literary  piracy  upon 
myself  in  the  way  of  repetition.  I  shall  endeaver. 
however,  not  to  plagiarize  upon  any  one  else,  and  as 
I  do  not  flatter  mj'self  that  my  former  efforts  were  of 
sufficient  importance  to  have  become  imbedded  in  the 
literature  of  the  country,  or  to  have  indellibly  im- 
pressed themselves  upon  the  memory  of  those  who 
heard  them,  I  may  be  able  to  produce  something  that 
will  be  apparently  new  to  my  present  audience. 
There  is  one  advantage  possessed  by  an  habitual 
lecturer  in  a  community  constituted  as  ours  is:  it  is 
constantly  changing  like  our  map,  new  and  fresh 
supplies  are  ever  pouring  in,  so  he  is  sure  that  a  large 
majority  of  his  hearers  will  not  detect  his  repetitions. 

I  was  advised  that  the  subject  of  my  discourse  was 
to  be  historical.  Now,  most  history  is  the  purest 
fiction;  but  history  which  embraces  a  period  within 
the  memory  of  living  men  does  not  afford  the  same 
field  for  imaginative  decoration  as  does  that  of  more 
ancient  and  remote  times,  and  if  the  historian  does  not 
stick  pretty  close  to  facts  some  obs'erving  critic  will  be 
quite  ready  to  call  him  to  account,  and  as  most  pioneer 
addresses  are  necessarily  historical  in  their  character, 
they  are  apt  to  resemble  each  other  to  some  extent 
when  presenting  the  same  facts  and  events. 

150099 


None  of  us  like  to  be  thought  old;  yet  all  of  us  take 
a  pardonable    pride    in  being  ranked  among  the  old 
settlers,   and  take   pleasure   in  relating  history  which 
we    have    assisted    in   making.       There    is    a    sense  of 
superiority  in  being  regarded  as  an  authority  in  any- 
thing, but  especially  in  matters  pertaining  to  the  past. 
How  the  old  veteran  glows  with  pride  as  he  relates 
his  achievements  on  the   hard  fought  field.      How  the 
traveller  in  strange   lands    loves    to    dwell    upon    the 
wonders  he  has  seen;    and  how  the  old  settler  lingers 
with   delight  upon  the  adventures  of  his  pioneer  life. 
So  there  is  some  comfort  in  growing  old,  if  it  is  only 
to  live  your  life  over  again  by  recounting  your  experi- 
ences and  hard  earned  knowledge  to  a  younger  gen- 
eration.    I  am  sorry  to  say,  however,  that  the  privilege 
of  garrulous  narration,  is  generally  about  all  the  benefit 
that    accrues    to    the  old   settler.      It  is  a  lamentable 
fact,  that  most  of  them   allow  the  material  benefits  of 
discovery  and  selection,  to  slip  through  their  fingers, 
to  be  gathered  up   and  utilized  by  the  more  thrifty, 
who  come  after  them.     An  observation  of  over  thirty 
years,  has  convinced  me  that  not  one  in  ten  of  those 
who   had   the   whole   field   to   choose    from,  and   even 
those  who  possessed  sagacity  enough  to  choose  judi- 
ciously, ever  benefitted  much  by  his  opportunities. 

There  has  always  been  in  America  a  peculiar  race  of 
men,  which  may  be  classified  as  the  pioneer  race. 
They  are  nomadic  in  all  their  instincts,  generally  with 
little  culture,  prodigious  enterprise  and  dauntless 
courage.  They  lack  that  plodding  patience  which  is 
the  secret  of  success  in  most  human  undertakings. 
Their  wants  are  simple,  and  consequently  their  worldly 
aspirations  are  not  extravagant.  Their  guiding  star  is 
hope,  and  they  are  ever  ready  to  relinquish  a  present 


advantage  for  a  future  prospect,  if  presented  through 
the  glamour  of  romance  and  adventure.  They  have 
no  love  of  locality  or  home,  as  long  as  the  vigor  of 
manhood  remains,  and  they  have  the  energy  to  seek 
new  fields.  Their  lives  are  generally  fruitless  to  them- 
selves and  their  families;  and  after  many  wanderings 
and  great  toil,  they  disappear  in  poverty  and  obscurity, 
unless  rescued  from  oblivion  through  the  annals  of 
of  some  old  settlers' society,  which  records  their  event- 
ful career.  Many  of  these  men  found  their  way  into 
Minnesota  in  an  early  day,  remained  their  brief  time, 
and  departed  for  other  and  more  exiting  scenes  of 
chance  and  hazzard. 

This  type  of  American  character  has  been  immor- 
talized in  the  superb  fresco  of  Leutze  in  the  Capitol  at 
Washington,  called  "Westward  the  course  of  Empire 
takes  its  way'' — in  which  an  emigrant  train  is  exhibited 
just  at  the  point  where,  after  a  weary  journey  of  months 
across  the  continent,  it  catches  its  first  glimpse  of  the 
promised  land  of  California.  To  one  who  has  partici- 
pated in  such  hardships,  this  picture  is  a  poem  full  of 
moving  pathos. 

The  country  owes  a  debt  to  these  pioneers  which  it 
can  never  repay;  but  they  will  always  have  a  warm 
place  in  the  hearts,  and  a  word  of  good  cheer  from  the 
lips  of  the  old  settlers. 

I  am  strongly  in  favor  of  young  men,  who  have  their 
own  way  to  make  in  life,  emigrating  to  new  countries. 
I  have  done  a  good  deal  of  it  myself,  and  can  speak 
from  experience,  as  well  as  observation.  But  while 
advocating  emigration  for  the  young,  I  would  warn 
them  against  becoming  habitual  wanderers,  as  utterly 
destructive  of  thrift  and  prosperity.  I  would  say, 
remain  under  the  old  and  conservative  order  of  things. 


4 


until  your  moral  and  mental  training  has  reached  a 
point  which  will  counterbalance  the  loss  of  the  social 
restraints  you  are  about  to  cut  loose  from;  then  select 
a  country  that  possesses  the  elements  of  material  pros- 
perity, and  the  sooner  you  {jet  off  the  better.  Don't 
become  discontented  because  you  fail  to  get  rich  in  a 
few  years,  and  don't  above  all  things,  get  discouraged 
when  the  first  crash  comes,'  even  if  you  fall  with  it. 
All  new  countries  have  to  undergo  certain  financial 
and  commercial  crises,  brought  on  by  the  speculation 
and  improvidence  of  their  inhabitants.  The  sooner 
they  come  the  better,  because  it  is  better  to  gain  this 
experience  while  the  country  possesses  the  vigor,  elas- 
ticity and  recuperative  powers  of  youth.  Let  me  add 
a  word  of  advice  to  all  young  men  who  propose  to  try 
their  luck  in  a  new  country,  which  I  regard  as  a  key 
to  success  in  all  walks  of  life.  Be  strictly  temperate 
and  scrupulously  honorable  and  just  in  all  your  inter- 
course with  men.  Not  more  than  one  in  ten  ever 
adopt  this  course;  so  if  you  do  as  I  advise,  you  will 
be  the  possessor  of  a  capital  which  will  stand  in  the 
market  at  a  premium  of  nine  hundred  per  cent  above 
par,  and  the  demand  will  be  equal  to  the  scarcity  of  the 
supply.  The  moment  a  capable  young  man  is  known 
to  be  sober  and  honest,  his  fortune  is  assured  in  any 
new  country;  and  allow  me  to  say  that  Minnesota  is 
not  at  all  to  old  for  the  application  of  the  rule  of  con- 
duct suggested. 

The  great  West  is  an  educator.  If  a  young  man  im- 
migrates to  a  country  so  new  that  society  is  unformed, 
over  which  no  regular  government  has  yet  extended, 
where  the  whole  civil  organization  is  yet  to  be  put  into 
operation,  he  finds  himself  confronted  with  all  these 
great  problems,  and  is  called  upon  to  take  an  active 


5 


part  in  their  solution.      His  individuality,  if  he  has  any, 
must  display  itself.      He  is  compelled  to  think  and  act 
upon  questions  which  would   not  have  engaged  his  at- 
tention, except  in  a  secondary  way,  in  an  old  country, 
until  he  had  arrived   at  a  much   more  advanced    and 
mature  period  of  life.      He  takes  his  position  in  life  ac- 
cording to  his  merits,  and  not  upon  the  false  basis  of 
inheritance    or   fortune,   as    in  old    communities.      He 
cannot    move  on    carelessly    in    some    familiar    rut    in 
which  his  father  moved  before  him,  because  there  are 
no  such  ruts  marked  out  for  his  guidance.      He  is  free 
to  think  and  act  for  himself — relieved  from  all  conven- 
tionalities.     He  collides  daily  with  astute    and  inde- 
pendent   minds,    and    fundamental    and    philosophical 
principles    force    themselves    upon    his    consideration, 
and  he  must  grapple  with  them.      His  mind  expands. 
He  becomes   an  original   thinker,   and   finds  a  virgin 
field  in  which  to  test  the  experimental  creations  of  his 
genius.      His  new  existence  is  a  revelation  to  him.      A 
mind  which  might  have  dragged   out  a  sluggish   and 
routine     existence    in    a    city,    or    in    an    old    settled 
country,  when  brought  face  to  face  with  nature  in  her 
grandest  manifestations  of  boundless  prairies,  tower- 
ing mountain  ranges  and  majestic  streams,  experien- 
ces  a   new    birth — an   electric   inspiration   utterly   un- 
known   to   denizens    of  perfected  communities.      The 
mind    of   man  can  become    fenced    in   as    well  as  the 
country   he   inhabits,  and    it    will    take   its   color   and 
habits  from  its  environments.      When  we  compare  the 
best  productions  of  human  .skill  with  the  creations  of 
God,  we  admit  the  truth  of  what  the  poet  says: 

"Nature   hath  nothing  made  so  base,  but  can  read 
instruction  to  the  wisest  man." 


6 


Who  ever  roamed  over  one  of  our  limitless  prairies — 
through  the  depts  of  a  majestic  forest — or  down  the 
wild  canons  of  some  mountain  pass,  and  did  not  feel 
his  whole  nature  exalted  into  harmony  with  the  grand- 
eur which  encompassed  him?  Who  can  ever  forget 
the  sensation  of  awe,  mingled  with  emancipation  that 
he  experienced  on  first  crossing  the  mighty  Missis- 
sippi, and  knowing  that  he  was  in  the  West.  Stolid, 
indeed,  must  be  the  spirit,  and  irresponsive  the  heart 
that  is  privileged  to  familiar  intercourse  with  the  sub- 
lime in  nature,  and  does  not  become  refined  and  en- 
larged. 

But  I  must  not  allow  my  enthusiasm  for  the  West, 
in  general,  to  divert  me  entirely  from  the  legitimate 
subject  of  my  discourse. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  enter  upon  the  ancient  history 
of  Minnesota,  if  I  may  be  allowed  so  to  speak.  I 
mean  the  period  before  any  actual  settlement  by  the 
whites  was  attempted  within  her  borders,  except 
briefly  to  outline  such  history.  Up  to  1849,  nearly  the 
whole  of  what  is  now  Minnesota,  was  occupied  by  the 
Indians,  and  all  that  lies  west  of  the  Mississippi,  ex- 
clusively so;  and  the  only  business  transacted  by 
white  men  within  her  boundaries,  was  the  fur  trade 
with  these  tribes.  This  trade  had  long  existed,  and 
the  period  it  extended  over,  has  been  very  appropri- 
ately and  eloquently  called  by  Minnesota's  first  his- 
torian, "The  heroic  age  of  American  commerce."  It 
was  carried  on  by  great  companies,  who  employed 
many  voyageurs  in  its  operations.  These  men  were 
mostly  Scotchmen,  Canadian  Frenchmen,  and  half- 
breeds.  It  was  usual  to  fit  out  a  crew,  with  boats  and 
a  cargo  in  the  spring,  and  send  them  off  on  an  expedi- 
tion, to  exchange  their  goods  for  furs,  not  expecting 


' 


m 


to  see  them,  or  hear  from  them  again  for  a  whole  year. 
Wlien,  after  this  long  absence,  they  returned  with 
their  rich  load  of  fine  furs,  they  were  absolutely  sure 
to  account  for  every  dollar  that  had  been  entrusted  to 
them.  There  was  a  devotion  to  duty,  and  a  fidelity 
to  their  employers,  displayed  by  these  men  that 
amounted  to  heroism  and  chivalry.  To  risk  his  life  in 
the  defense  or  protection  of  his  employers'  property, 
and  frequently  to  die  in  such  cause,  was  deemed  by 
these  loyal  men  as  simply  part  of  his  daily  duty.  De- 
falcations and  embezzlement  were  utterly  unknown 
among  them.  A  braver,  hardier,  truer  race  of  men 
was  never  known  in  any  land. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  present  State  of 
Minnesota  had  a  dual  mother.  The  part  of  it  that  lies 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  was  part  of  the 
Northwest  Territory,  ceded  by  Virginia  shortly  after 
the  Revolution  to  the  United  States;  and  the  portion 
lying  o\\  the  west  side  of  the  river,  is  part  of  the 
Louisiana  purchase  which  the  United  States  bought 
from  the  Republic  of  France  under  Napoleoi.  Bonaparte 
by  treaty  concluded  at  Paris  the  30th  day  of  April, 
1803. 

This  treaty  passed  to  the  United  States  all  the 
country  occupied  by  the  French  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  west  of  that  stream  indefinitely 
north.  At  the  time  this  treaty  was  made,  very  little, 
if  anything,  was  known  of  the  country  embraced  there- 
in, except  what  lay  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  mouth 
of  the  river.  All  the  vast  country,  embracing  Arkan- 
sas, Missouri,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
and  many  of  our  extensive  territories,  was  a  Terra 
Incognita. 

If  it  won't  weary   you,  I  will  take  both  sides  of  the 


8 


river,  and  briefly  trace  the  various  political  changes 
that  have  taken  place  in  what  is  now  our  State,  i 
shall  begin  on  the  west  side.  \^irst  it  was  the  Province 
of  Louisiana,  and  French.  On  June  30th,  1803,  it  be- 
came American,  and  remained  the  Province  of  Louis- 
iana until  March  26ih,  1604,  when  an  act  was  passed 
by  congress,  creating  the  Territory  of  Orle-ins,  which 
included  all  of  the  Louisana  purchase  south  of  the 
33d  degree  of  North  latitude,  which  is  the  line  that 
now  divides  Louisiana  from  Arkansas.  This  act  gave 
the  Territory  of  Louisiana  a  government,  and  called 
all  the  country  to  the  north  of  ii,  the  District  of  Louis- 
iana, which  was  to  be  governed  by  the  Territory  of 
Indiana.  The  Territory  of  Indiana  had  been  created 
on  May  7th,  1800,  out  of  the  western  and  northwest- 
ern portions  of  the  Virginia  cession,  known  as  the 
Northwest  Territory.  It  extended  to  the  Mississipi 
River,  and  its  seat  of  government  was  at  Vincennes, 
on  the  Wabash. 

This  continued  until  June  4th,  1812,  when  the  Dis- 
trict of  Louisiana  was  erected  into  the  Territory  of 
Missouri.  The  west  part  of  our  State  remained  in  the 
Territory  of  Missouri  from  June  4th,  1812,  to  June 
28th,  1834,  when  all  the  public  lands  of  the  United 
States  lyin^;  wesl  of  the  Mississippi,  north  of  the  State 
of  Missouri,  east  of  the  Missouri  River,  and  south  of 
the  British  line,  was  by  act  of  congress  attached  to  the 
Territory  of  Michigan,  and  was  governed  from  the  seat 
of  government  of  that  Territory.  This  part  of  our 
State  remained  under  the  government  of  Michigan 
from  Junre  28th,  1834,  until  April  20th,  1836,  when 
the  Territory  of  Wisconsin  was  created.  This  law 
went  into  eftect  July  3rd,  1836  and  Wisconsin  took 
in  our  present  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi.       It 


remained  in  Wisconsin  Territory  from  July  3rd,  1836, 
till  June  I2th,  1838,  when  the  Territory  of  Iowa  was 
created. 

Iowa  took  in  all  that  part  of  Wisconsin  lying  west 
of  a  line  projected  from  the  source  of  the  Mississippi, 
north  to  the  British  line,  and  what  was  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  So  our  western  portion  was  in- 
cluded in  the  Territory  of  Iowa  on  June  12th,  1838, 
where  it  remained  until  the  3rd  day  of  March,  1845, 
when  the  State  of  Iowa  was  admitted,  with  its  present 
boundaries,  leaving  what  was  north  of  its  north  line, 
without  any  government. 

We  will  now  take  up  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  follow  its  various  changes.  As  I  have  said  be- 
fore, it  was  originally  the  Northwest  Territory.  On 
May  7th,  1800,  it  became  part  of  Indiana  Territory, 
and  remained  so  until  April  20th,  1836,  when  it  became 
part  of  Wisconsin  Territory,  and  so  remained  until 
May  29th,  1848,  when  Wisconsin  was  admitted  into 
the  Union,  with  the  St.  Croix  for  its  western  boundary. 
By  this  arrangement  of  the  western  boundary  of  Wis- 
consin, all  the  territory  west  of  the  St.  Croix,  and  east 
of  the  Mississippi,  like  that  west  of  the  river,  was  not 
embraced  in  any  political  organization,  but  was,  in 
the  language  of  the  present  day,  "left  out  in  the 
cold. " 

This  brief  summary  gives  the  governmental  history 
of  Minnesota,  from  the  time  of  France  on  one  side  of 
the  rive.-,  to  Virginia  on  the  other.  Of  course,  there 
was  very  little  practical  exercise  of  government  within 
all  the  territory  now  composing  the  State,  because 
until  about  1835,  there  was  no  one  to  govern.  The 
whole  country  was  a  howling  wilderness,  inhabited  by 
savages. 


10 


iiil 


About  the  first  white  settlement  in  this  country,  was 
the  establishment  of  Fort  Snelling,  in  1819.  At  this 
time,  the  nearest  point  where  even  troops  were 
located,  was  at  old  Fort  Crawford,  where  now  stands 
Prairie  du  Chien.  In  1835  and  succeeding  years,  small 
settlements  grew  up  at  Mendota  and  Stillwater,  and  a 
few  gathered  about  the  present  site  of  St.  Paul  and 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  so  that  by  the  time  Wiscon- 
sin was  admitted  into  the  Union  in  1848,  there  were 
quite  a  good  many  people  on  the  west  side  of  the  St. 
Croix,  who  found  themselves  without  any  government. 
Here  was  an  anomalous  condition  of  things.  Stillwater 
was  quite  a  village,  St.  Anthony  and  St.  Paul  places 
of  some  importance,  but  less  in  population  than  Still- 
water. There  were  many  men  here  at  that  time  of 
brains,  energy  and  influence.  Henry  M.  Rice,  Gen. 
Sibley,  Morton  S.  Wilkinson,  Henry  L.  Moss,  John 
McKusick,  Joseph  R.  Brown,  Martin  McLeod,  Wm. 
R.  MarshdU,  and  many  others  of  the  same  character, 
and  they  did  not  propose  to  remain  in  an  unrecognized 
state  without  any  government,  or  at  least  one  of 
doubtful  jurisdiction.  The  question  was  a  debatable 
one,  whether,  when  the  State  of  Wisconsin  went  into 
the  Union,  the  part  of  the  Territory  out  of  which  it 
was  carved,  which  was  not  carried  with  it  into  the 
Union,  succeeded  to  the  Territorial  government,  or 
not?  Some  thought  it  did,  but  many  doubted  it. 
The  difficulty,  however,  was  solved  very  wisely  and 
successfully.      It  was  done  in  this  way: 

The  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  Gover- 
nor Dodge,  was  elected  United  States  Senator,  when 
the  State  of  Wisconsin  was  created,  which  left  the 
Secretary  of  the  Territory,  Mr.  John  Catlin,  i'.v  officio 
Governor,  if  there  was  any  of  the  Territory  of  Wis- 


11 


consin  for  him  to  govern.  He  resided  in  Madison, 
within  the  new  State;  so  if  he  was  going  to  assert  his 
gubernatorial  powers  over  the  remnant  of  the  Terri- 
tory lying  west  of  tlie  St.  Croix,  it  became  necessary 
for  him  to  remove  into  that  region.  A  correspondence 
was  opened  with  him,  and  he  was  invited  to  come  to 
Stillwater,  and  proclaim  the  existence  of  the  Terri- 
torial government  over  the  remnant  of  the  Territory. 
The  delegate  from  Wisconsin  resigned,  and 'Governor 
Catlin  and  his  family,  in  the  month  of  September, 
1848,  removed  to  Stillwater,  and  he  issued  his  proc- 
lamation for  the  election  of  a  delegate  to  Congress. 
An  election  was  held  in  November  following,  and  our 
distinguished  and  much  honored  fellow  citizen,  Gen- 
eral Sibley,  was  chosen.  He  proceeded  to  Washing- 
ton, and  the  regularity  of  the  proceedings  was  recog- 
nized to  the  extent  that  he  was  duly  admitted  to  a  seat 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  as  a  delegate  from 
Wisconsin. 

General  Sibley  procured  the  passage  of  an  act,  on 
March  3rd,  1849,  organizing  the  Territory  of  Minne- 
sota, out  of  the  discarded  remnants  of  Wisconsin  and 
Iowa.  The  Territory  extended  from  the  St.  Croix  to 
the  Missouri. 

There  is  a  little  unwritten  history  connected  with 
this  transaction,  which  may  prove  interesting  to  the 
uninitiated.  Before  these  preliminary  steps  were  taken 
to  get  a  representation  for  the  proposed  new  Territory, 
the  principal  residents  divided  the  contemplated  spoils 
between  the  different  communities,  about  as  follows: 
General  Sibley  lived  at  Mendota,  so  Mendota  was  to 
have  the  delegate,  St.  Paul  was  to  have  the  capital, 
Stillwater  the  penitentiary,  and  St.  Anthony  the  uni- 
versity, which  was  the  sum   total   of  the    government 


Ill 


12 


•patronafTe.  This  scheme  was  carried  out  to  the  letter, 
but  it  was  only  by  the  unbending  honesty  of  General 
Sibley,  in  insisting  on  the  original  programme,  that 
the  capital  was  saved  to  St.  Paul.  Senator  Douglas 
had  been  up  here,  and  was  familiar  with  localities,  and 
had  undoubtedly  been  the  guest  of  Gen.  Sibley  at  his 
hospitable  mansion  in  Mendota,  as  almost  every  visitor 
of  distinction,  in  those  days  was,  and  he  was  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  Territories.  He  very  much 
favored  Mendota  as  the  location  for  the  capitol,  and 
the  top  of  Pilot  Knob  as  the  site  for  the  building;  but 
the  delegate  would  not  be  tempted  to  violate  the 
arrangement,  and  we  are  spared  the  dreadful  afflic- 
tion of  having  to  climb  Pilot  Knob  every  time  we  go 
to  the  capitol.  The  organization  of  the  Territory  was 
completed  by  the  appointment  of  Alexander  Ramsey, 
Governor;  Aaron  Goodrich,  Chief  Justice;  and  David 
Cooper  and  Bradley  B.  Meeker,  Associate  Justices; 
C.  K.  Smith,  Secretary;  Joshua  L.  Taylor,  Marshal; 
and  Henry  L.  Moss,  District  Attorney.  Mr.  Taylor 
did  not  accept  the  Marshalship,  and  Col.  Alexander 
Mitchell  was  appointed  in  his  place,  and  entered  upon 
the  duties  of  the  office.  Govenor  Ramsey,  Judge 
Goodrich  and  Mr.  Moss,  I  am  happy  to  say,  are  all 
now  residents  of  St.  Paul,  enjoying  excellent  health, 
and  the  highest  esteem  of  their  fellow  citizens. 

When  the  Territory  was  admitted,  all  that  part  of  it 
west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  was  the  property  of  the 
Sioux  Indians,  into  which  no  one  save  a  licensed 
trader,  v/as  permitted  to  go.  It  comprised,  as  you 
well  know,  the  best  part  of  the  Territory,  so,  of  course, 
it  could  not  be  allowed  to  remain  in  that  condition, 
and  proceedings  were  set  on  foot  to  purchase  it  by 
treaty  with  the  Sioux.      A  commission  was  appointed, 


13 


composed  of  Governor  Ramsey  and  Luke  Lea,  to 
negotiate  treaties.  Two  were  made  in  185 1.  One  at 
Mendota  and  the  other  at  Traverse  des  Sioux.  The 
first  with  the  lower  Sioux,  and  the  latter  with  the 
upper  Sioux.  There  were  four  bands  or  divisions  of 
these  Indians.  The  lower  ones  were  called  M'day- 
wa-kan-tons  and  V/ak-pay-ku-tays,  and  the  upper  ones 
the  Si-si-tons  and  Wak-pay-tons.  When  the  treaties 
went  to  the  Senate  for  ratification,  that  body  made 
amendments  to  them,  and  it  was  1853  before  they 
were  finally  perfected.  But  the  people  did  not  wait 
for  that  formality  to  invade  the  country.  Settlements 
were  made  at  various  points  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  up  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota,  long 
before  the  final  ratification  of  these  treaties. 

Her  allow  me  to  say  a  word  about  the  Indians. 
These  people  are  a  superb  race  of  men.  I  have  seen 
a  good  deal  of  them.  I  have  lived  with  them,  studied 
their  characteristics  from  all  points  of  view,  and  I 
venture  to  say  that  a  better  race  of  aboriginal  men 
never  inhabited  the  earth  than  the  Indians  of  the 
Northwest  in  America.  They  are  splendid  specimens 
of  the  animal  man.  Tall,  well  formed,  athletic,  and 
in  all  manly  traits,  such  as  hunters  and  warriors,  they 
excel.  Like  all  savages,  they  will  deceive  when  they 
expect  to  be  deceived,  and  in  all  their  relations  with 
the  whites,  they  expect  to  be  overreached,  and  are 
generally  not  disappointed. 

When  we  judge  them  with  regard  to  their  rebellions 
and  their  depredations,  we  should  be  careful  to  make 
due  allowances  (  their  peculiar  condition  in  relation 
to  the  whites,  and  nothing  will  illustrate  this  point 
better  than  the  situation  of  the  tribes  of  Sioux  that 
inhabited  the  country  in  Minnesota,  west  of  the  Mis- 


14 


sissippi.      It   was  an   Indian   paradise.      It    had    great 
forests  of  sugar  trees — abounded  \v\'h  beautiful   lakes, 
supplying  fish  in  abundance.      Rice  swamps   were  nu- 
merous.     Buffalo,  elk,  deer,  beaver,  and    all   the    ani- 
mals useful  to  the  primitive  man,  were  plentiful.      No- 
thing was  wanting  to  make  this  country  one  especially 
adapted    to    the  Indian.      He  was  induced    to  sell  it. 
The  fact  is,  he  was  compelled  to  sell   it.      He   knew  as 
well   as   any  one,  that   he  had   to  retire  before  the  ad- 
vance of  a  superior  race,  and    that   his  only   hope  was 
to  make  the  best  bargain  he  could.      Such  transactions 
are  called  treaties,  but  they  are  treaties  only  in  name. 
The  superior  power  demands   the   land  and    offers  the 
compensation.     The    inferior    power   knows    perfectly 
well   that  if  it  does  not  accept  the  terms,  it  will   ulti- 
mately  be  forced  out   of  its   domains,  and  it   accepts, 
and  that  is  about  the  secret  of  all  Indian  treaties. 

Let  us  look  at  the  case  in  hand.  Here  were  these 
Indians,  occupying  a  superb  country;  they  were  the 
first  settlers,  and  had  a  recognized  good  title.  They 
sold  out,  and  were  placed  on  a  narrow  strip  of  land, 
twenty  miles  wide,  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Min- 
nesota River,  and  were  to  be  paid  certain  annuities  in 
money  and  goods.  I  know  of  no  more  desolate  region 
than  the  one  selected  for  their  home.  It  was  utterly 
destitute  of  game,  and  had  no  attractions  for  the 
Indian.  It  is  true  that  when  they  went  there  they 
enjoyed  the  freedom  of  the  great  uninhabited  buffalo 
range  to  the  northwest  of  them;  but  that  was  tempo- 
rary, as  time  has  proved.  That  they  should  become 
discontented  was  natural,  and  that  they  should  rebel 
was  equally  natural.  Whether  or  not  they  were  fairly 
dealt  with,  I  have  nothing  to  say.  I  administered  their 
affairs   for  a  few  years,  and  did  my   best  for   their   in- 


15 


terests,  but  I  had  a  hard  time  of  it  in  the  delinquen- 
cies of  the  government.  The  money  was  rarely  on 
time,  and  the  consequent  suffering  of  the  Indians  ren- 
dered the  supplies,  when  they  did  arrive,  of  not  much 
avail.  I  don't  pretend  to  say  that  their  rebellioli  in 
1862  was  justified;  but  I  do  say  that  if  I  had  been  an 
Indian,  I  would  have  felt  very  rebellious. 

The  poor  devils  have  disappeared  from  the  face  of 
the  earth,  as  many  savage  races  have  gone  before 
them;  but  while  I  admit  the  necessity  of  their  anni- 
hilation, 1  cannot  suppress  a  profound  regret  that  our 
great  civilization  could  not  have  devised  some  means 
to  assimilate  them,  and  prevent  their  utter  des- 
truction. They  were  a  gallant  race,  generous,  hospit- 
able, true  according  to  their  teachings,  and  the  best 
w.irriors  this  continent  ever  produced. 

It  is  the  one  result  of  a  superior  race  coming  in  con- 
tact with  an  inferior  one.  The  lands  are  wanted  and 
will  be  had.  A  fighting  people  never  yield  to  any- 
thing but  force.  A  haughty  savage  race  never  can 
be  civilized.  Labor  to  them  is  degradation.  They 
can  die  fighting,  but  they  won't  work.  You  might  as 
well  expect  to  put  a  hoe  in  the  hands  of  the  deposed 
royalty  of  France,  as  to  make  a  Sioux  warrior  a 
husbandman. 

The  world  will  never  be  made  to  understand  this 
state  of  things,  because  the  world,  knows  nothing  of 
the  Indian.  But  I,  who  have  met  him  on  his  native 
plains,  in  all  the  majesty  of  his  royal  freedom,  must 
be  pardoned  if  I  say  that  I  have  a  great  sympathy  for 
poor  Lo. 

From  1849  to  1857,  the  growth  of  the  Territory  was 
phenomenal.  Many  people  immigrated  to  us,  and 
speculation  ran  riot.     Towns  on  the  land  sprang  into 


(i 


I! 

I- 


!  i 


li'iiil; 


16 

existence  with  great  rapidity,  and  towns  on  paper  were 
thicker  than  locusts  in  Egypt.  But  there  was  very 
little  beside  towns.  Agriculture  of  any  kind  was  hardly 
known.  We  imported  everything,  even  to  the  hay  on 
which  the  horses  in  this  city  were  fed.  I  have  known 
boat  loads  of  baled  hay  brought  all  the  way  from 
Dubuque,  while  millions  of  tons  of  it  were  growing  in 
the  Minnesota  bottoms,  which  only  needed  the  cut- 
ting. The  current  rate  of  interest  was  three  and  five 
per  cent,  per  month,  which  attracted  much  capital 
here,  and  served  only  to  excite  speculation  and  aug- 
ment the  debt  of  the  people.  Everybody  borrowed 
all  they  could,  to  operate  in  town  lots  with.  Property 
in  this  city  reached  prices  in  1856  which  it  has  never, 
in  some  instances,  attained  since.  Everybody  felt  rich, 
and  things  went  on  in  the  most  jolly  and  swimming 
manner.  No  one  thought  of  the  fact  that  we  had  not 
a  single  thing  to  sell  except  town  lots,  and  that  we 
had  everything  to  buy.  It  is  a  curious  retrospect  now. 
How  intelligent  men  could  have  been  so  deluded,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  comprehend,  except  upon  the 
principle  that  the  actual  settler  brought  very  little 
with  him,  and  had  nothing  lo  lose,  and  if  a  final 
collapse  arrived,  he  would  not  be  any  worse  off  than 
he  was  before,  except  perhaps  debts  of  a  few  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  which  he  owed  to  Eastern  lenders, 
which  calamity  he  generally  consoled  himself  to 
upon  the  ground  that  if  the  other  fellow  could  stand  it, 
he  ought  to  be  able  to. 

Well,  as  ought  to  have  been  expected,  one  bright 
morning,  the  news  arrived  that  the  Ohio  Life  and 
Trust  Company  had  failed,  and  then  followed  a  suc- 
cession of  failures  all  over  the  East,  in  rapid  sequence. 
The  supplies   were  instantly  cut  off,  and   then  came  a 


17 


resistless  drain  on  the  country  for  all  the  money  there 
was  in  it.  It  flowed  out  as  fast  as  it  had  flowed  in, 
until  the  last  cent  had  disappeared.  Foreclosures  fol- 
lowed as  fast  as  demands  fell  due,  and  property  that 
had  been  rated  at  thousands,  went  for  fives  and  tens. 
Never  was  a  smash-up  more  complete  and  universal. 
There  was  not  money  enough  in  the  country  to  do  the 
ordinary  commerce  of  daily  life.  Every  butcher, 
baker,  and  candlestick  maker  issued  tickets,  good  at 
his  place  for  twenty-five  and  fifty  cents,  and  that  was 
all  the  money  we  had.  The  idea  of  paying  a  debt  was 
simply  regarded  as  a  joke.  But  if  my  memory  serves 
me  correctly,  we  did  not  fail  to  get  all  we  wanted  to 
eat,  and  our  grog  was  neither  stopped  nor  curtailed. 
People,  when  they  are  all  in  the  same  boat,  generally 
devise  some  means  of  barter  or  credit  to  keep  things 
going.  If  no  one  can  buy,  no  one  can  sell,  so  the 
matter  adjusts  itself  satisfactorily,  in  some  way. 

When  I  think  of  those  times,  and  the  real  estate  I 
could  have  bought  for  a  few  hundred  dollars,  it  reminds 
me  of  the  man  who  said  he  could  have  purchased 
Chicago  for  $200  at  one  time.  When  he  was  asked 
why  he  didn't  take  it,  he  said  that  was  simple  enough: 
He  didn't  happen  to  have  the  two  hundred  dollars. 

The  effect  of  this  financial  ruin  was  most  salutary. 
People  discovered  that  labor  was  the  only  substantial 
foundation  of  prosperity,  and  that  the  attempt  to 
evolve  something  out  of  nothing,  was,  as  it  always  will 
be,  a  dismal  failure.  So  they  went  to  work.  The  fact 
is,  it  was  "Hobson's  Choice."  It  was  "root  little  pig 
or  die."  Farms  were  opened,  and  industrial  enter- 
prises, of  all  kinds,  entered  upon.  With  a  soil  and 
climate  like  that  of  Minnesota,  an  enterprising  people, 
aided  by  a  continual   flow    of  immigration,   the  recu- 


la 


^ilh 


peration  was,  considering  the  utter  depression  that 
prevailed,  rapid  and  encouraging.  But  it  was  many 
long  and  weary  years  before  the  burthen  of  debt  was 
removed,  and  prosperity  once  again  began  to  smile 
upon  our  country. 

It  was  just  at  this  critical  period  that  the  Territory 
made  the  greatest  blunder  of  its  history.  A  magni- 
ficent grant  of  lands  had  been  made  by  Congress  to 
the  Territory,  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  railroads. 
Companies  were  formed   to  build  them,  and  the  lands 


turned    over    to    the    c 


ompanies. 


This  land   was.   of 


course,  expected  to  be  the  basis  of  procuring  money 
to  build  the  roads,  but  the  financial  crash  put  an  end 
to  all  enterprises  of  the  kind.  You  could  not  lure  a 
dollar  of  outside  capital  into  them  on  any  terms,  and 
of  home  capital,  there  was  scarcely  sufficient  to  keep 
the  pot  boiling,  let  alone  building  railroads.  It  was 
then  the  scheme  was  devised  of  bonding  the  Territory 
for  five  millions  of  dollars,  to  aid  in  the  work.  When 
I  look  back  upon  the  scene,  it  appears  incredible  that 
such  a  proposition  should  have  met  with  encourage- 
ment. Here  was  a  country  utterly  bankrupt,  without 
resources  of  any  kind;  in  fact,  without  visible  means 
of  support.  How  it  should  be  expected  that  any  one 
would  purchase  the  promises  of  such  a  debtor,  was  a 
mystery;  but  the  case  was  desperate,  and  something 
had  to  be  done.  So,  like  the  ship-wrecked  mariners, 
who  felt  the  necessity  of  performing  some  religious 
ceremony,  and  did  not  know  how  to  pray,  they  con- 
cluded to  take  up  a  collection. 

On  February  6th,  1857,  an  enabling  act  had  been 
passed  by  Congress,  authorizing  us  to  frame  a  consti- 
tution preparatory  to  admission  into  the  union  of 
States.      We   did  so  the   following  summer,   and  like 


19 

sensible  people,  we  provided  that  the  credit  of  the 
State  should  never  be  extended  to  any  individual  or 
corporation,  and  that  the  State  debt  should  not  exceed 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  So  to  issue 
these  bonds  we  were  compelled  to  get  round  these 
constitutional  provisions  in  some  way,  and  an  amend- 
ment was  at  once  submitted  to  the  people  allowing 
this  loan,  and  it  went  through  like  a  whirlwind,  being 
adopted  almost  unanimously,  April  15th,  1858, 

The  plan  was  to  issue  the  bonds  to  the  companies 
at  so  much  a  mile  of  grading  the  several  rOads.  The 
whole  scheme  proved  of  course  a  failure;  a  good  deal 
of  grading  was  done,  but  by  the  time  the  people  saw 
about  two  million  and  a  half  of  the  bonds  out,  they 
became  convinced  that  they  would  never  hear  the 
whistle  of  a  locomotive  which  depended  upon  the 
expenditure  of  the  whole  sum,  and  they  became  as 
clamorous  to  repeal  the  amendment  as  they  had  been 
to  adopt  it.  Immediately  upon  this  return  of  reason, 
another  amendment  was  submitted,  which  wiped  out 
the  former  one,  and  went  to  the  unjustifiable  and,  I 
may  say,  dishonest  extent  of  declaring  that  the  bonds 
already  out,  should  never  be  paid  unless  sanctioned 
by  a  vote  of  the  people.  This  was  adopted  by  an 
immense  majority,  November  6th,  i860. 

That  is  a  brief  history  of  the  five  million  loan,  which 
has  been  so  often  characterized  by  people  who  knew 
very  little  about  it,  as  "an  old  Teritorial  fraud,"  when 
they  were  seeking  to  add  dishonor  and  injustice  to  a 
mere  act  of  indiscretion,  by  the  repudiation  of  an 
honest  obligation.  The  whole  transaction  was  simply 
a  bad  bargain,  made  at  a  time  when  the  country  was 
struggling  in  the  throes  of  financial  dissolution,  and 
any  remedy  that  presented  itself  was  seized  upon  as  a 


20 


drowning  man  clutclies  at  a  floating  straw.  The  folly 
was  in  going  into  it;  the  crime  was  in  trying  to  sneak 
out  of  it  under  the  shield  of  State  sovereignty,  which 
should  never  be  invoked,  save  in  the  cause  of  human 
rights,  and  the  defense  of  the  honor  of  the  common- 
wealth. 

t 

The  stigma  of  repudiation  rested  on  us  for  many 
long  years,  until  a  Minnesotian  dreaded  to  see  the 
name  of  his  State  in  an  Eastern  journal,  or  hear  't  '>n 
the  floor  of  Congress,  because  it  was  usually  coupled 
with  dishonor.  Fortunately,  the  matter  was  finally 
patched  up,  and  our  creditors  satisfied,  whether  our 
consciences  were  or  not.  Would  it  not  be  well  to 
reflect  on  this  indiscretion  of  our  youth,  and  its  dis- 
agreeable consequences,  when  we  are  called  upon  to 
vote  debt  after  debt  of  millions  upon  our  State,  our 
counties  and  our  municipalities.  I  have  often  been 
led  to  the  conclusion  that  bitter  experience  has  not 
made  us  very  much  the  wiser.  The  crash  of  1857,  and 
the  railroad  debt,  were  our  first  misfortunes,  and  they 
may  have  been  blessings  in  disguise,  so  little  do  we 
comprehend  the  philosophy  of  events. 

A  curious  political  phase  attended  our  early  State 
life.  We  had  been  invited  by  Congress  to  frame  a 
constitution  and  come  into  the  Union;  in  fact,  it  had 
been  pretty  broadly  hinted  that  we  wr  e  well  able  to 
take  care  of  ourselves,  and  that  if  w:  did  nut  hurr} 
up  and  apply  for  admission,  out-  suppii^..  would  be  cut 
off.  So  we  had  no  reason  to  expect  any  opposition 
to  our  admission.  In  the  fullness  of  this  confidence, 
we  provided  in  the  constitution,  that  the  Territorial 
officers  should  hold  their  plates  until  superseded  by 
n  .>  authority  of  the  Stale,  and  that  the  first  State 
Legislature  should  rnnvciie  r»n   the  fir5;t  Wednesday  of 


21 


December,  1857,  the  election   being  on  October  !3th, 
1857,  we  of  course  taking'  it  for  granted  that  before  the 
date  fixed    for  the  sitting  of   the   legislature,  we  would 
be  snugly  in  the  Union,      Hut  we  were  taught  the  lesson 
of  the  folly  of  assuming  that  Congress  will  ever  do  the 
right  thing.     The  election  came  off,  all  the  State  officers 
were  elected,  and  being  very  modest,  we  elected  three 
nvmbcrs    of    Congress,   when    it    was    quite    doubtful 
whether  we  were  entitled  to  more  than  one.     This  for- 
tunate trio  were  George  L,  Becker  of  St.  Paul,  W.  W. 
Phelps,   of  Red  Wing,   and   James    M.  Cavanaugh.  of 
some   town  in   the  southern  part  of  the    State,  1  think 
Preston.      The  latter  gentleman  commonly  went  under 
the  familiar  name  of  "Our  Jim."     They  betook  them- 
selves  to  Washington,  full    no  doubt  of   the    reflected 
glory  of  the  Star  of  the  North,  but  they  struck  a  snag 
in  the  outset.     In  the  first  place,  it  was  discovered  that 
we  had  made  our  delegation    too    numerous,  and  only 
two  would    be    allowed  seats.      In    the  second    place, 
they   had    the  misfortune   to   be  democrats,  and   there 
was  a  contested  seat  about    to  be  decided   from  Ohio, 
between  Valandingham    and   Lew  Campbell,  I   think, 
and   the  House  was  so  close  that   it  was  feared   by  the 
republicans,  that  if  Minnesota's  representatives  got  in, 
they  might  turn  the  scale  for  Valandingham.      So  the 
only  way  to  prevent  his  getting  his  seat   was  to  keep 
the    State  out,  which    they  succeeded  in  doing    until 
May  nth,  1858.      The  manner  in  which  the  represen- 
tatives decided    among    themselves  which   two  should 
stay,  and    which    one   should  return    home,  has  never 
been  recorded.      Various  conjectures   have    been   haz- 
arded upon  the  point.      It  was  said    that   it    was  done 
by  a  three-handed  game  of  euchre;     also  by  the  draw- 
inn-  of  straws    and    the  cutting  for   the  highest  cards, 


22 


but    however  it    was    settled,   Phelps  and    Cavanaugh 
were  chosen  in,  and  Becker  chosen  out. 

This  pr-stponement  of  our  entry  into  the  Union  gave 
rise  to  the  poli'ical  predicament  whicii  I  have  referred 
to.  When  the  fi'-st  Wednesday  of  December,  1857, 
arrived,  the  Strte  legislature  elected  under  the  State 
constitution,  v. hich  had  not  as  yet  beer  ratified  by 
Congress,  met  at  the  capitoi,  and  proceeded  to  pass 
laws  for  the  government  of  the  Territory,  which  was 
in  full  life.  None  of  the  State  officers  could  assume 
the  functions  of  their  several  offices,  because  the  con- 
stitution under  which  they  had  been  chosen  explicitly 
provided  that  the  Territorial  officers  should  remain  in 
until  the  admission  of  the  State.  So  the  situation,  as 
you  will  readily  see,  became  rather  complicated.  But 
the  State  legislature  went  on  and  made  laws,  and  sent 
them  to  the  Territorial  Governor  for  approval,  and  he 
performed  that  ceremony  with  the  skill  and  compla- 
cency of  the  old  political  veteran  that  he  was.  The 
gubernatorial  chair  was  then  filled  by  Sam.  Medary, 
of  Ohio,  about  as  experienced  a  pdlitician  as  that 
period  had  produced.  Many  thought  the  whole  per- 
formance was  void,  and  many  differed  as  is  always  the 
case  under  such  abnormal  conditions.  I  am  happy  to 
be  able  to  say,  that  when  the  solution  of  this  very 
difficult  question  came  up  for  final  decision,  it  found 
itself  confided  to  no  less  a  personage  than  myself,  and  I, 
with  that  common  sense  which  should  always  govern  a 
frontier  judge,  held  it  was  all  right  and  perfectly  con- 
stitutional. What  else  could  one  do?  They  had  passed 
an  immense  book  full  of  laws,  and  the  job  of  declaring 
em  all  unconstitutional  at  once  was  rather  too  for- 


th 


midable   an  undertaking    for  a   boy,  so  I  did   the  only 
common  sense  thing  there  was  to  do,  but  I  felt  a  good 


23 

deal  as  the  jury  did   when   they  acquitted  the  man  of 
murder,  but  said  he  must  be  careful  not  to  do  it  again. 
The  indignation  of  the  people  at  being  trifled  with, 
as  we  considered  Congress  was  trifling  with   us.  and 
especially  the  newly  elected  State  officers,  who  wanted 
to  be  installed  and  couldn't,  was  immense.    We  threat- 
ened revolution  and  rebellion.      We  swore  we  were  a 
State  out  of  the  Union,  and  we  could  and  would  go  it 
alone,  and  prove  to  the  world  that  we  could  make  four 
points  on  the  hand  we  held;  but  we  didn't  do  anything 
of  the  kind;   we  had  gained  a  good  deal  of  experience, 
and   waited   until  we   were   regularly  admitted,  just  as 
Dakota  is  doing  at  the  present  time.     When  one  comes 
to  reasonably  reflect  upon  such  a  state  of  affairs,  about 
the  onV  difference  there  is  between  being  a  Territory 
out  of  the  Union,   and   a  State  in  the   Union   is,   that 
several  gentlemen  in  the  latter  case  hold  fat  offices,  and 
the  people  have  to  pay  their  own  expenses,  and  in  the 
former  case  these  gentlemen  don't  have  the  fat  offices, 
and   Uncle   Sam  foots  the  bills.      I  have  helped  bring 
two   States  into  this  belov.  d   union  of  ours,   and  can 
hold   up   my  righ'.  hand  and  swear  that  if  the  bottom 
facts  could   be  gotten   at  with  certainty,  the  ambition 
of  a  couple  of  gentlemen   who   want  to  see  how  they 
would  look  in  the  United  States  Senate,  has  been  the 
moving  cause  for  the  change  in  both  instances. 

There  was  one  event  in  the  progress  of  our  passage 
into  the  Union  that  should  not  be  overlooked  in  an 
historical  resume  of  our  past.  The  enabling  act  pro- 
vided for  the  election  of  a  constitutional  convention. 
It  was  duly  elected,  and  was  about  evenly  divided 
between  the  democrats  and  the  republicans.  You 
must  remember  that  the  democratic  party  had  been  in 
possession  of  the  government  of  the  nation  for  a  long 


24 


it 


series    of   years,  and    was    composed  of   the   old  and 
experienced   politicians  of  the    country,  and  the  party 
now  sometimes  called  the  "grand  old  party,"  was  then 
a  very  weak  infant  just  three  years  of  age.      From  the 
beginning  there  were  evidences  of  a  determined  strug- 
gle to  control  the   convention   by    both   parties.     The 
republicans    were    fearful  of  some  coup  d'etat  on  the 
part    of   their    adversaries    by    which    they   would  be 
overreached,  and  to  forestall  any  such  movement,  the 
night  before  the  assembling  of   the   convention   they 
took  possession  of  the   House  of  Representatives  and 
all  slept  there  so  as  to  be  sure  to  be  there  first  in  the 
morning.     The  democrats,  led  by    Governor  Gorman 
and  General  Sibley,  determined  on  a  more  reasonable 
and    regular    method    of   gaining    their    ends.       They 
quietly  canvassed  the  situation,  looked  up  the  prece- 
dents, and  decided  upon  their  course  of  conduct.      It 
was  found  that  when  no  hour  was  fixed  for  the  meeting 
of  the  convention  by  the  authority  calling  it,  noon  of 
the  day  was  the  parliamentary  time,  and  that  when  no 
one   was  authorized  to  call  it  to  order,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Territory  was  the  proper  officer  to  perform  that 
duty.      It  happened,  fortunately,  that  the  Secretary  of 
the  Territory,  Mr,  Chase  of  St.  Anthony,  was  a  mem- 
ber and  a  democrat.     The  plan  was  for  the  democrats 
to  march  into  the  hall  exactly   at  the  hour  of  noon, 
with  Mr.  Chase  at  their  head,  and  as  soon  as  the  head 
of  the  column   reached  the  speaker's  desk,  he  was  to 
spring  into  the  chair  and  call  the  convention  to  order, 
and    General    Gorman    was  to   move   an   adjournment 
until  the  next  day.     This  was  for  two  purposes.    First, 
to  get  possession  of  the  chair,  and  Second,  to  gain  time 
e  of  our  absentee  members — the  delega- 


te get  in  som 


tion  from  Pembina,  ever  reliable  but  not  over  punc 


tual, 


not  having   arrived.      The   leader  of   that  delegation, 
my  old    friend    Joe  Rolette,  was    a    little  inclined    to 
linger  by    the  wayside    after  entering   the  precincts  of 
civilization,   the  allurements    of   which    he    could  not 

resist. 

When  the  secretary  reached   the  speaker's  desk,  he 
mounted  it   in  an  instant  and  called  the  convention  to 


rder. 


The  republicans  were  a  little  dazed  by  the 
celerity  of  the  movement;  but  almost  at  the  same 
moment,  John  W.  North  sprang  into  the  chair  and 
also  began  to  call  the  convention  to  order.     The  words 


w 


ere  hardly  out  of  the  secretary's 


mouth  before  General 


Gorman  made  a  motion  to  adjourn,  which   was  put  by 
11  the   democrats  voting  aye,  and  whe 


n 


the  speaker,  a 
the  negative  was  put,  most  of  the  republicans  voting 
no.  So  we  secured  a  large  majority  of  the  whole  body 
voting  on  the  question,  which  was  declared  carried, 
ts  marched  solemnly  out  as  they  had 


and   the  democra 


m 


arched  in.      This  movement  left  the  republicans  in  a 


quandrary.    The  motion 


had  undoubtedly  been  legally 


came 


d.     Neither  party   had  a  quorum  of  the  whole, 


ilthough  both  parties  swore  they  had.     The  repu 


bli 


cans 


took    the  bull   by  the  horns,  organized    the  con- 
t    of  what  members  they  had,  and  went  to 


vention  ou 


work  making  a  constitution;  on  the  morning  following, 
the  democrats  announced  themselves  as  the  convention 
and  demanded  the  hall,  which  they  asserted  was  held 


and   occupied   by  a  mo 
surrender,   however,  an 
doubtedly 


b  of  citizens.      They  would   not 


armed,   the   democr 
and   there  organize 
legal  convention. 


d    to   avoid  violence,   and    un- 

bloodshed,   for    both    parties  were    heavily 

ats  retired  to  the  senate  chamber 


d  what  they  insisted  was   the  only 
General  Sibley  was  made  president 


20 


of   the  democratic  wing,   and  St.   A.   D.   Balcomb  of 
Winona,  of  the  republican  wing. 

'  The  two  bodies  sat  for  fifty-four  days,  if  I  remember 

d  of   the  time  found  out  that 
differences   between   them    that 


aright,  and  about  the  en 


there  were  no  serious 
could  find  expression   in  a  constitution,  and    that    the 
two  instruments  were  substantially  the  same.     They 
also  cooled  down  sufificienlly  to  fear  that  if  they  sent 
two  constitutions  to   Congress  that  body  would  prob- 
ably   reject    them  both,  so    they  finally   made  a  joint 
committee  and    turned   the  two  instrument?   into  one, 
which  was  signed  by  all  the  members  of  boih  wings, 
except  one,  Mr.  Henry  N.  Setzer,  a  German  from  the 
St.  Croix  Valley,  who  swore  it   was  not  the   work  of 
the  convention,  and  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
it.      It  has  been  said  of  me  that  I  am  such  an  unbend- 
ing democrat,  that  when    the  party  is  named    in    my 
presence  I  always  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  but  I  am 
a  mere  infant  in  that  respect  compared  to  the  iron-clad 
faith  held    by  my  old  friend  Setzer.      He   would   have 
let    the  State  stay  out   forever  before  he  would    have 
recognized  the  work  of  the  enemy  in  the  constitution. 
The  democrats  had  one  decided  advantage  over  the 
republicans  in  this  protracted  struggle.      We  held  the 


treasury.       George    Armstrong 


w 


as     the     Territorial 


Treasurer,  an 


d  he  could  not  be  induced  by  threats  or 


cajolery    to   pay    any  warrant    not   signed    by  General 
Sibley,  and  of  course  he  only  signed  the  pay  warrants 


of  the  democr 


ats.      It  is  difficult  to  say  which  side  did 


the  most  of  the  yielding,  but  starvation  has  always 
been  a  formidable  weapon  in  a  siege,  and  hotels  and 
bar-rooms  will  not  run  a  score  forever. 

The  haste  with  which  the  constitution  was  completed 


27 

naturally  carried  into  it  several  inaccuracies,  although 
on  the  whole  it  was  a  pretty  good  one.      One  defect 
was  seized  upon  by  the  opponents  of  admission.     The 
term  of  State  senators  was  fixed  at  two  years,  and  the 
term  of  members  of  the   House  was  not  fixed  at   all. 
It  was  asserted  that  they  were  elected    for  life,  and 
that  a  government  in  which  the  popular  branch  of  the 
legislature  was  chosen  for  life,  was  not  republican   in 
form.      Alexander  H.  Stevens  of  Georgia,  whom   you 
will  all  remember  as  a  man  of  great  powers  of  reason- 
ing   and  a  strong  States'  rights  man,   answered  this 
objection  very  fully.     He  said  the  people  of  Minnesota 
could   elect   any  of  their  officers  for    life  or  any  other 
term  they  pleased,  and  so  long  as  the  government  was 
properly    divided    into    the    three    great    independent 
divisions,  and  was  based  on  the  will  of  the  people,  it 
was  republican,   and  Congress  had   nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  tenure  of  offices  in  a  State. 

After  we  were  admitted  as  a  State,  we  jogged  along 
very  quietly  until  the  next,  and  perhaps  the  greatest 
event    of   our    whole    career    occurred;    this    was    the 
building  of  the  first  railroad.      Many  gentlemen  had 
given  much  time  and  labor  to  this  work,  prominent 
among  whom  were  Edmund  Rice,  the  present  mayor 
of  St    Paul,  Col.  William  Crooks,  and  others.     Capital 
was  as  shy  as  a  maiden  with  her  first  lover.      But  after 
extraordinary  efforts,  sufficient  was  procured  to  build 
the  first  ten  miles  between  St.  Paul    and  St.  Anthony 
These  ten  miles  of   road  cost  more  brain    work    and 
anxiety  than   all  the  rest  of  the  system  put  together 
They    were  built  in  1862.     The  first  locomoUve  that 
ever  whistled  in   Minnesota  was   called  the  "W.lham 
Crooks."  which  was  a  well  deserved  compliment  to  an 
intelligent  and  energetic  pioneer  in  our   ra.lroad  work. 


28 


The   progress  that   has   been   made  since  that  time 
rdinary  throughout  the  whole  State, 


has  been  so  exlraoi 


an 


us  forget  the  pas 


t   to   make 
t  difficulties  which  have  been  met  and 


d   the   prosperity   that   now   prevails  is  ap 


overcome  in  our  career, 
has  not  been  an  easy 
performed  the    wo 
not  always  slept  upon  a 


The  building  of  Minnesota 

task,  and  the  pioneers   who  have 

rk.  and  achieved   the  victory,  have 


poraneous    w 
the    Indian    m 
western  part  o 


bed   of  roses.     About  cotem- 
ith    the    financial  disaster  of  1857,  came 

iouth- 


assacre    at    Spirit    Lake,   in   the  s 


f  the  Territory,  known  in  our  history  as 
the    Ink-pa-doo-ta  war.      Ink-pa-doo-ta  was  a  vaga 
bond    Indian   of   the    Sioi.x  tribe,   who,   with  a  sma 

ated    himself   from    the 


U 


band    of   followers,    had    separ 


Lower   Sioux 
predatory  life  over  01 


before    the   treaties   of  1S51,   and  led  a 


the  Vermillion   and   Big   Sioux 


rivers.  His  band  did  not  participate  in  these  treaties, 
nor  in  the  annuities  paid  under  them.  In  March,  1857, 
they  attacked  some  settlements  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  Iowa  and  in  the  southwest  part  of  our  State,  near 
Spirit  Lake,  and  massacred  about  forty-two  people. 
They  carried  into  captivity  four  women,  and  made 
good  their  escape  to  a  point  called  Skunk  Lake,  about 
seventy-five   miles   southwest   from    the  mouth  of  the 


Yellow    Medicine 


River,    where  I  then  had  my  head- 


quarters as 


United  States  agent  for  the   Sioux.      One 


of  these  women  was  purchased  by  some  of  my  Indians 
and  delivered  to  me.  Her  name  was  Mrs.  Marble. 
The  occurrence,  of  course,  created  a  great  excitement 
throughout  the  Territory,  and  the  legislature  appropri- 
ated ten  thousand  dollars  to  secure  the  rescue  of  the 
others.  The  whole  matter  was  placed  in  my  hands  by 
Governor  Medary;  but  before  I  heard  of  the  appro- 
nriation  I  had  acted  on   my  own   responsibility,  sent 


29 


out  a  party  of  Indians  a 


only  o 


ne 


of  the  women  who  surv 


nd   secured  posse*^sion  of  the 
ived.  a  Miss  Gardner. 


n 


d  the 


f 


w 


I  turned  these  women  over  to  the  governor,   a 

hole  cost  of  the  enterprise,  including  the  rescue  o 
both  the  prisoners,  was  less  than  four  thousand  dollars, 
if  I  remember  correctly.  1  delivered  a  paper  before 
the  State  Historical  Society  on  the  subject  some  time 


here  I  went  into  all  the  particulars  with  accuracy 
d    in    detail.       Time     forbids    more    than    a    me 


ago,  w 


an 


f  the  incident   here    as   o 


mention    o 

events  of  our  history,  wi 


n 


e   of  the  leading 


th  a  reference  to  its  conse 


quences. 


There  is  one  m 
of  the  rescue  of  the  women 


alter  connected  with  the  transaction 


however,  that  may  interest 
d  amusing  features. 


you.  which, "having  some  curious  an 
I  will  take  the  liberty  of  relating.  After  we  had  got 
possession  of  Mrs.  Marble.  I  had  to  employ  the  same 
Indians  to  obtain  the  others,  and  seeing  their  advan- 
tage they  demanded  payment  of  twelve  hundred 
dollars  for  the  rescue  of  Mrs.  Marble.  I  had  no  public 
fund  applicable  to  any  such  purpose,  and  could  only 
few  hundreds  among  the  traders,  but  as  every 

rth  a  life.  I 


raise  a 


oment  was  precious    and    mig 


ieht  be  wo 


resorte 


d  to  the  not  unusual  expedient  of  issuing  a  bond 


three  months'  time,  drawn  o 


n  the  faith  I  had  in  the 


A 


s  it  was 


humanity  of  the  people   of  the   Territory 

the  first  bond  ever  issued  by  what  is  now   the  State  of 

Minnesota,  and  as  it  is  somewhat  peculiar  in  form,  and 


lar  history  of  being  pro 


possesses  the  singu 

at  maturity,  I  will  give  it  to  you  in 


m 


ptly  p 


full. 


onary  of  the  Sioux  In- 


"T    Steohen  R.  Riffs'^,  nnissi 
dians    and tchades  E.  Flandrau,  U.  S.  Indian  agent 
fo?"he  Sioux,  being  satisfied  that  Mak-pe-ya-ka-ho- .on 

and  Se- ha-h^-ta.  two  Sioux  Indians,  have  performed 


30 

a  valuable  service  to  the   Territory  of  ^^^^'^l\^  ^'^ 
humanity   by   rescuing   from    capt.v.ty    Marga         An 
Marble,  and  delivering  her  to   the   S.oux  /'^^-"^ J^"/^ 
beinc   further  satisfied  that  the   two   remain.ng  white 
to  fen   who   are   now   in  captivity  among  Ink-j>a-doo- 
ta's  band  of  Indians  depend  much   upon   the   hberahty 
of  the  Territory  of  Minnesota,  through  .ts  governmen 
^nd  citizens,  have  this  day  paid  to  said    above-named 
Indians  the  sum   of    $500    in   money,   and  do   he.cby 
pledge    to    said    two   Indians   that  the   further   sum   of 
Isoo  will  be  paid  to  them  by  the  Territory  of  M     - 
nesota.  or  its  citizens,  within   three   months   from   the 

date  hereof.  ,.  •    .     •   •    i\/r    T 

Dated  May  22d.  1857.  at  Pajutaz.z.,  M.   l- 

STEPHEN    R.    RIGGS,    A.    B-    t-    DA- 
CHAS.  E.   Flandrau, 

U.  S.  Agent  for  Sioux. 

The  rescuing  party  went  out  with  a  pretty  good 
outfit  of  horses,  goods  and  provisions,  and  brought  m 
Miss  Gardner;  Mrs.  Thatcher  and  Mrs.  Noble  havmg 
been  killed  before  their  arrival.  Miss  Gardner  after- 
wards became  Mrs.  Sharp,  and  has  recently  published 
a  very  interesting  book  on  the  subject  of  the  massacre, 
her  captivity  and  rescue. 

The  effect  of  this  massacre  was  greatly  to  deter 
settlement  on  the  remote  frontier,  and  was  a  very 
injurious  blow  to  our  growth.  But  such  matters  are 
soon  forgotten  in  the  West,  and  the  ripple  made  on 
the  surface  of  our  prosperity  soon  calmed  down,  and 
the  adventurous  pioneer  found  his  way  once  again  into 
that  devastated  region. 

I  have  carried  in  my  pocket  ever  since  that  event 
a  coin  with  the  mark  of  a  bullet  on  it  that  killed  Bill 
Wood,  of  Mankato.  on  the  head  waters  of  the  Des 
Moines,  just  north  of  Spirit  Lake.  It  was  found  m 
the  snow  close  to  his  body. 

The  country  had  hardly   become  tranquilized  from 


31 


the  Ink  pa-doo-ta  scare  of  1857,   before    the    terrible 

cipitated  upon  us.     The  mag- 


massacre  of  1862  was  pre 
nitude  of  this  outbreak  has  never  been  fully  appreci- 
ated, except  by  those  who  were  here  at  the  time.  It 
occurred  while  the  country  was  engaged  in  the  great 
Rebellion,  where  the  killing  of  a  thousand  people  in  a 

the 


hadly   made  a  perceptible  ripple  on 


day  or  two, 

public  mind.      Yet  it  was   in 


massacre  that  has  evci 


me 


nts  on  the  Atlan 


massacre  in 


fact  the  greatest  Indian 
taken  place  from  the  first  settle- 
tic  coast  to   the  present  day.      The 
the  Wyoming  Valley,  which  has  been  im- 
trifle   in   comparison   to  it. 
d  it  will  never  be  known 


mortalized  in   song,  was  a 
The  atrocities  that  accompanie 


t  to  those  who  were  on  the  grou 


excep 

ence  on  our  ma 

was  immense. 


nd.  and  its  influ- 


terial  prosperity,  although  temporary, 
The  actual  destruction  of  property  went 


in 


to  the  millions,  and  the  su 


fifering  consequent  upon  it 


was  enormous. 

On  the   i8th  of  Aug 
Their  first  act   was    to 


f  August,    1862.   the  Sioux  rebelled. 


agenci 


butcher  all    the  people  at.  the 
es.      They   then    spread  over    the  country  east 


we 


St  and  south,  in  sm 


all  squads,  killing  the   peo 


Pl 


e  in 


detail  from  house  to  house.     The  general  plan  was  to 

friendly  way,  and  without  exciting 

first    opportunity  that  pre- 

Id    shoot    the    man,   and    then 


go   to   a  house  in  a 


any    apprehension.     The 
sented    itself   they  won 
slaughter  the  worn 


en 


and  children, 


These  devastations 


ex 


tended  to  Iowa  on 


the  southwest,  about  the  nei 


gh- 


borhood  of  the  town  o 


f  Hutchinson  o 


n  the  east,  and 


near 


18th  an 


ly  to  St.  Peter  on 


the 


sou 


th.     They  killed  on  the 


d  19th  of  August,  nearly,  if  not  quite  a 


thou- 


sand p 


d  people.    Organized  efforts  o 


f  resistance  and  attack 


w 


ere  made  imme 


were 


finally  driven  out    o 


diatcly  by  the  citizens,  and  the  Indians 
f   the   State  and  across  the 


32 


Missouri  River,  and  we  have  never  been  disturbed  by 
the  Sioux  since. 

At   this  time  the   whole  tribe  of   the  Winncbagoes 
were  located  in   the  county   of   Blue  Earth,   within  a 
dozen  miles  of  Mankato,  on  a  tract  of  the  best  land  in 
the  State.     Though  it  would  be  difficult  to  prove  that 
they    took   any  part   in   the  outbreak,  except  in   indi- 
vidual   instances,   the    excitement    and    alarm    of  the 
whites  so  increased  their  natural  antipathy  to  the  In- 
dians   that    the  government    was  forced   to  remove  tlie 
Winnebagoes  westward  and  out  of  the  State.      So,  as 
is  generally    the    case,  some    good    came  out  of   this 
dreadful  calamity.      For  a  long  time  what  had  been  the 
frontier    was    depopulated,  and    many  settlers   left   the 
State  never  to  return.      I  can  remember  that  I  used  to 
issue   letters  or  passes  to  women  ^who  had    lost   their 
husbands,  children  who  were  made  orphans,  and  crip- 
pled and    disabled    men,  which  purported   to  be  good 
over  all   lines  of  transportation    in    the  United  States, 
and  at  any  hotels.      It  is  a  grand  commentary  on  the 
humanity    of    people    in    general,    that    these    passes, 
issued  without   any  authority  whatever,  and  only  as    a 
request,  were  in  every  case  that  ever  came  to  my  knowl- 
edge duly  honored,  and  the  unfortunates  reached  their 
friends  in  the  East  and   South  safely  and  comfortably. 
The  nature  of  the  present  occasion  forbids  my  doing 
more  than   to  mention  this  event  in  our  history,  but  I 
can  assure    those   who    are  unfamiliar   with    its  varied 
trials  and  incidents,  that  they  will  find  a  perusal  of  the 
books  and  reports  that  have  been  written  concerning 
it  profoundly  interesting  and  instructive. 

Hardly  had  confidence  been  restored,  and   immigra- 
tion   once    more     been    successfully    directed    to    our 


frontiers,  then    we    were    a 


fflicted    with    another    and 


33 


much  more  dangerous  enemy  than  the  Indians  could 
possibly  become.  We  could  fight  them,  but  this  last 
scourge  defied  all  resistance;  before  the  ravages  of  the 
grasshopper  the  ingenuity  and  the  courage  of  man  were 
helpless.  The  Indian  could  kill  some  of  us,  but  we  had 
the  satisfaction  of  being  able  to  kill  back.  The  grass- 
hopper destroyed  our  sustenance,  undermined  the 
value  of  our  lands  and  goods,  utterly  impoverished  us, 
and  we  were  compelled  to  sit  with  folded  hands  and 
see  our  fortunes  fade  away  before  our  eyes,  powerless 
to  strike  a  blow  in  our  defence. 

For  four   long   and  weary  years  did  this  blight  rest 
upon  the  fair  bosom  of  our  State.      Every  conceivable 
scheme  was  devised  to  rid  us  of  the  pests,  but  all  were 
utterly  unavailing.      Year  after  year  the  area  of  their 
ravages  widened,  until  it  became  a  very  serious  ques- 
tion whether  the  people  or  the  insects  would  remain  in 
posression  of  the  State.      Many  portions  of  our  land 
had  to  be  sustained  by  public  bounty.     Taxes  had  to 
be  suspended    because  of   the  utter'  inability    to  pay 
them,  and,  I  tell  you   what,  the  atmosphere  of  Min- 
nesota was  about    the  bluest  and  most    disheartening 
that  it  has  ever  been  my  fate  to  experience.     I  remem- 
ber seeing  a  map  of  the  State  called  the  grasshopper 
map,  which  showed  by  red  lines  their  annual  encroach- 
ments, and    the    area  enclosed  within    the    last  line,  I 
assure  you,  embraced  quite  three-quarters  of  the  State. 
The  science  of  entomology  was  utterly  at  fault  either  to 
suggest  a  remedy  or  foreshadow  a  hope. 

Just  in  the  midst  of  this  gloom  and  depression,  the 
grasshoppers  rose  up  in  a  body  and  disappeared.  No 
one  knew  where  they  went;  they  were  never  satisfac- 
torily accounted  for.  Such  a  vast  multitude  could 
never  have  descended  on  any    part  of  this  continent, 


?,4 

and  some  one  not  have  heard  of  them.  Reports  did 
come  from  Atlantic  steamers  that  they  had  passed 
large  areas  of  floating  insects,  and  it  is  generally  be- 
lieved   that    they    were  blown    out    to  sea  and    there 

perished. 

The  first  visitation  they  ever  made   to  this  country, 
that  I  know  anything  about,  was  in  1856  or  '57-     Vast 
flights  of  them  came  over  the  head  waters  of  the  Min- 
nesota  River,  from  the  northwest,  and  disappeared  in 
a  southeasterly  direction.     The  flight  was  several  miles 
in  with.      In  their  passage  they   devoured  everything 
green.      I  had  a  quarter  section  of  wheat  about  ten  or 
twelve   inches   high,  near    the    Red   Wood  River,   that 
lay  in  their  path.     It  being  the  only  cultivated  ground 
in  sight,  the  rich  green   was  beautiful  to  look  upon  in 
the  surrounding   waste.      In  four  hours  that  field   was 
eaten   not    only    to  the  ground  but    iuto  the  ground. 
They  would  follow  the  succulent  stalk  below  the  sur- 
face and  devour  it.     The    field  was    black  when   they 
left  it.     These    insects    did  not    remain,  and    as    there 
was  very  little  cultivation   at  the  time,  their  presence 
was  hardly  noticed.       These  were  the  same  grasshop- 
pers that  once  produced  a  famine  among  the  Mormons 
in  Utah  in  the  early  days  of  their  occupation  of  that 

country. 

The  four  years  of  the  great  struggle  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Union,  from  1861  to  1865,  was  a  heavy 
strain  on  our  resources;  we  sent  to  the  war  about 
twelve  thousand  men  who  remained  away  an  average 
of  three  years,  not  counting  those  who  never  returned 
but  gave  their  lives  to  the  cause  of  their  country. 

So  you  see  there  have  been  many  and  serious  diffi- 
culties in  the  path  of  our  growth,  but  they  have  all 
been  manfully  met  and  conquered,  and   after  twenty- 


35 


ei^'ht   years  of  State  life,  wc  have  etnerired   from  ob- 
scurity to  the  commanding  position  we  now  occupy  In 
the  sisterhood  of  States.      Wh  it  are  we?     A  common- 
wealth  of  about  a  million  people,  occupying  a  country 
unsurpassed  in  salubrity  of  climate,  in   fertility  of  soil, 
and    in    the  moral    and   enterprising    character   of  our 
population,      We  have  to-day  ;>  railroad  system  reach- 
ing far  beyond   the  settled  portions  of  our  country,  in- 
viting   the  settler   to   fields  of   industry    never    before 
offered  to  the  immigrant.      Hy  the  energy  and  far-see- 
ing wisdom  of  our  people  we  have  abolished   the  fron- 
tier, and  deprived   the  pioneer  of  his  profession.      The 
land   teems  with   fatness  and   prosperity.      I  challange 
any  similar  extent  of  country  on  the  continent  to  pre- 
sent  a  picture  of   richness  equal   to    Minnesota.      Our 
State  is  what  you    have   made  her — a  noble  and    re- 
spected member  of  a  grand  constellation  of  free,  inde- 
pendent   and   happy  commonwealths.      Well  does  she 
bear  her  name  of  the  Star  of  the  North. 

Having  erected  such  a  model  State,  would  it  not  be 
as  well  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  subject  of  perpetu- 
ating   to  our    posterity  the  fruits  of   our  handiwork? 
Will     the     present     advance     towards     greatness     and 
wealth  continue   uninterruptedly  and   smilingly  in   the 
future  as  in  the  present?      Are  our  political  and  econ- 
omic systems  on  a  solid   basis?     Are  there   no  worms 
gnawing  at    the  roots  of   our  supposed    security    that 
some     day     may    overthrow     all     we     have    achieved, 
threaten   the  foundations  of   our  liberties,  and    plunge 
us    into  civil    war  and   anarchy?     I  am  not  a  croaker; 
I  always  take  the  roseate  view  of  passing  events  as  far 
as  possible;   but  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  serious 
questions  that  are  daily  forcing  themselves   upon  our 
consideration.      The  whole  Union  to-day  is  convulsed 


36 


with  a  strife  between  capital  and  labor,  and  no  country 
on  earth  except  our  pwn  could  stand  the  strain  we  are 
now  undergoing  without  civil  war  and  terribly  bloody 
consequences. 

There  are  only  two  causes,  in  my  judgment,  that  can 
overthrow    our    institutions,  and    they    are,    universal 
suffrage  and  universal  immigration.      Our  safety-valve 
for    both    these    evils,    for    evils    they    are,  has    been 
heretofore  our  unoccupied   territory,  which  carried  off 
surplus  population  and  left  room   enough   in  our  older 
and  more  densely  settled  communities  for  labor  to  find 
remunerative  occupation.     This   safety-valve  has  not 
yet  been  closed,  but  with  the  rush  of  immigration  con- 
sequent upon  the  greater  facilities  afforded  by  improved 
ocean  transportation,  it  soon  will  be.  and  all  labor  will 
find  itself  as  cribbed   and  cramped  as  in   Europe.      Is 
there  any  remedy?     On  the  subject   of  universal  suff- 
rage. I  fear  not.      We  started  wrong,  and  the  evil  has 
grown  to  such   proportions  that  all  avenues  of  retreat 
seem  to  be  cut  off.      It  would   be  like  appealing  to  the 
devil   to  establish  reform.     The  privilege  of  sharing  in 
the  government  of  this  nation,  which  should  be  regarded 
as  an  inestimable  boon,  only  to  be  enjoyed  by  those 
who    have    proved    themselves    worthy    of   it,  is  now 
largely  in   the    hands  of   people    who  are    alien   to  our 
traditions,   alien   to  our    language,   and    hostile    to  all 
forms    of  government— communists,   anarchists,   nihi- 
lists, and  enemies  of  society.      If  this  power  cannot  be 
recalled,  may   it  not  be  checked  before  it  is  too  late? 

I  see  but  one  way. 

I  have  c-lways  been  inclined  towards  the  doctrine  of 
free  trade,  but  the  subject  of  free  trade  and  protection 
has  heretofore  been  confined  to  the  products  of  labor 
and    not    to  labor  itself.      We  have  protected  cotton. 


sugar,  wool,  iron,  and  ten  thousand  other  things  much 
to  the  impoverishment  of  our  agricultural  interests,  and 
the    multitudes  of   our    consumers    of   all  classes  and 
occupations,  but  no  one  has  ever  yet    presented    any 
plan  for  the  protection  of  our  labor;  on  the  contrary, 
until    the  Chinese    prohibition   was    recently    enacted, 
the  effort  of  all  our  people  h  js  been  to  throv/  our  doors 
wide  open  to  increase  competition  in  all  branches  and 
grades  of  labor,  and  consequently    to    lessen  its  value 
and  oppress  the  laborer.     It  was  a  verry  common  thing 
to  see  the  manufacturers  of  New  England,  when  they 
reduced  the  wages  of  their  operatives  to  a  starvation 
basis,  and  driven  them  to  strikes  and  rebellion,  to  fill 
their  places  with  new  importations  of  Chinese,  Poles, 
Hungarians,   Italians,   Bohemians,  and    people    of   all 
foreign  nations  whom  they  could  import  by  the  cargo 
to  supplant  American  free  labor.     This  has  occurred 
in  almost  all  branches  of  American  industry,  and  with 
the  one  result  of  driving  the  American  to  the  wall,  to 
poverty  and  want,  or  out  of  the  natural  channel  of  his 
occupation.       So    unbearable    did    this    condition    of 
things  become  in  our  Pacific  States,  that  the  congress 
of  the   nation  decreed  that    the  Chinese  immigration 
should  stop,  and  we  all  say  amen.     None  more  gladly 
than  the  laboring  man. 

Now,  when  you  come  to  reflect  on  the  subject,  the 
poor  Chinaman  was  only  offensive  because  he  under- 
mined our  American  labor.  That  was  his  only  fault. 
He  did  not  carry  any  red  flags,  nor  clamor  for  the  blood 
of  everybody  who  had  been  industrious  enough  in  life 
to  have  accumulated  some  property.  He  did  not 
want  to  subvert  the  government  and  substitute  the 
rule  of  the  proletariat.  Not  at  all.  He  was  a  patient, 
submissive  hard  worker,  and  orderly  man,  but  his  com- 


38 

petition  was  ruinous,  and  he  was  very  wisely  told  that 
for  this  sin  alone  we  did  not  want  him  and  would  not 
have  him.  Now.  where  is  the  justice  or  the  sense  of 
expelling  the  Chinaman,  or  prohibiting  his  coming,  if 
the  gates  of  the  nation  are  thrown  open  to  all  the  rest 
of  the  world,  and  they  are  invited  to  swarm  into  our 
labor  field  and  not  only  drive  our  laborers  to  poverty 
and  starvation,  but  flaunt  thdr  bloody  emblems  in  the 
faces  of  our  people,  threatening  rapine  and  chaos. 

If  it  was  a  good  thing  to  exclude  the  Chinaman  be- 
cause our  labor  could  not  stand  his  competition,  then 
it    must    be  an   equally  good    thing    to  cut    off"   other 
streams  of  competiton.  that  bring  with  them  not  only 
distress  to  our  laborers  but  danger  to  our  institutions. 
Let    statesmen    who   are    ever  ready   to  pander   to   the 
votes  of  the  laboring  masses,  and   who  have  been  tax- 
ing the  people  of  the  nation  by  high  duties  on  imported 
goods,  take    up    the  subject    of   protecting   American 
labor.      Let   them   either   cut  oft"  foreign  immigration, 
as  they  have  done    in  the  case  of  the  Chinese,  or    put 
suchatarifif   on   it   as    uill    exclude    the    paupers    and 
criminals  of  all  the  world   from  our  land,  protect  our 
laborers,  and  purify  the  sources  of  our  governmental 
fountain.      The  laboring  man  who  can't  see  that  this  is 
his  only  safety  must    be   blind  indeed.      1  look    for    a 
partv  in  this  nation    based  on  protection  of  American 
labor    by  high    protective    tariff"  on    foreign   immigra- 
tion, and  I  expect  the  laboring  men  of  all  parties  and 
nationalities  to  be  the  ones  who  will  create  and  uphold  it. 
When  I  speak  of  American  labor,  I  of  course  mean 
to    include   the  laboring    men  of  all  nationalities,  who, 
in  good   faith,  have  cast   their  lot  with  us.      I  am  will- 
ing that  matters   should  remain  as  they  ai;e,  but  I  am 
utterly  opposed  to  allowing  the  Czar  of  Russia,  Prince 


39 

Bismarck,  and  their  colleagues,  to  dump  upon  our 
shores  the  turbulent  elements  which  ihey  cannot  con- 
trol except  by  expulsion.  We  are  capable  of  a  good 
deal  of  resistance,  but  the  accumulated  dynamitic  filth 
of  all  Europe  will,  in  my  judgment,  prove  too  much 
for  even  our  robust  constitution.  The  sooner  we  cut 
ofif  this  string  the  better. 

No  reflecting  man,  who  calmly  surveys  the  present 
condition  of  our  labor  question  and  reflects  that  we  are 
only  one  hundred  years  old,  can  fail  to  see  that  with 
universal  suffrage  and  unlimited  immigration,  there  is 
necessarily  contained  within  the  body  politic  the  germs 
of  its  own  dissolution,  and  that  quite  speedily.  The 
remedy  I  propose  must  be  applied  before  the  commu- 
nistic element  becomes  sufficiently  strong  to  be  a 
factor  in  politics  able  to  frighten  politicians.  Now  it 
is  freely  condemned  by  all  parties;  once  allow  it  to 
become  powerful  by  accretions  from  abroad,  and  it 
will  be  too  late  to  act.  Then  the  question  will  have 
to  be  met  as  all  such  questions  must  be,  by  a  death 
struggle,  only  to  be  determined  by  physicial  strength 
and  the  destruction  of  free  institutions. 

I  would  have  liked  very  much  to  have  reviewed  the 
attempt  to  remove  the  capital  from  St.  Paul  to 
St.  Peter  that  was  made  in  1856,  and  the  interesting 
and  amusing  events  that  accompanied  that  curious 
episode  in  the  history  of  our  Territory,  but  as  you  are 
nearly  all  citizens  of  St,  Paul  and  old  settlers,  you  no 
doubt  recall  it  by  the  mere  mention  of  the  fact,  and 
time  warns  me  to  conclude.  Having  told  you  what  the 
State  was  made  of,  who  made  it,  how  it  was  made, 
and  how  to  preserve  it  in  its  grandeur  and  prosperity, 
I  bid  you  farewell,  hoping  to  meet  you  all  again  on 
many  returns  of  this  most  interesting  anniversary. 


